Richmond and Norfolk orchestras receive grants

The Mary Morton Parsons Foundation has awarded the Richmond Symphony two grants, totaling $750,000.

A $500,000 matching grant to the Richmond Symphony Foundation Endowment's Mary Morton Parsons Foundation Education Fund will support the orchestra's educational and outreach activities.

A $250,000 grant will support expenses related to the orchestra's return to the renovated Carpenter Theatre (the former Carpenter Center) in the downtown Richmond CenterStage project, scheduled to occur in the fall of 2009.

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Norfolk's Virginia Symphony has been awarded $17,500 in the second round of the National Endowment for the Arts' Access to Artistic Excellence grants. The funds will support the Harmony Project of ensemble performances, workshops and educational activities with churches and historically black colleges in the Hampton Roads region.